


Polliwog

by conceptofzero



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-16
Updated: 2011-10-16
Packaged: 2017-10-24 16:12:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/265434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conceptofzero/pseuds/conceptofzero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a heist gone wrong, Crowbar ends up staying up to make sure Die doesn't go to sleep with a head injury. He expects that it'll be boring, but he certainly doesn't expect to find out Die's got a tail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Polliwog

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of my headcanon (and Nakki's headcanon) about the Felt being an amphibious species from another world. See these two awesome drawings by Nakki for more detail: [Felt growth cycle](http://conceptofzero.tumblr.com/post/3056966991/whethervane-but-first-silly-headcanon-for), [Die's tail](http://conceptofzero.tumblr.com/post/3438630144/whethervane-oh-look-at-that-felt-faggotry).

It's been a rough night. What should have been a quick in-and-out bank robbery had gotten ugly when the Midnight Crew had ambushed them. Thankfully, no one had died, but more than a few members of the Felt had just emerged from very close shaves with death.

Stitch was taking care of the seriously wounded (Itchy, Fin, and Matchsticks) as well as those that needed attention from a real doctor, not just some patching up (Sawbuck, who had showed up a bloody mess about two minutes before everything went wrong, but with a broken jaw so he couldn't tell anyone a damn thing, and Cans, who had survived one of the more accurate placed bombs Deuce had set).

Crowbar covers the others who just needed basic cleaning up. Die is first on the list because he's so out of it, but a quick flash of the light in either eye reveals that particular mystery, "Congrads, you've got yourself a head injury."

Die's been trying to hold a brave face, or at least as brave as he can manage, but that all goes out the window in an instant, melting into a mix of exhaustion, horror and what can only be described as unfairness, "What? Oh no," Die's shoulders slump, "B-but I feel fine!"

"You almost fell over twice coming back to the house," Snowman points out, awkwardly holding her right arm against her body. Crowbar had lost track of her during the madness of the robbery, but while they were all in shit, somebody had managed to snap her arm, "So pardon me if I question your ability to accurately judge your own health."

"Just plant your keister, I'll look at you again when I'm done with Snowman and Doze and decide what I'm doing with you," If it's a major head injury, he'll have to interrupt Stitch and get him to fit Die in too. But if it's not so bad, then Crowbar will just babysit him until morning and keep an eye on Die, "Snowman?"

"You can take a look, but there's not much you can do," She stands up and offers him her arm. Unfortunately, she's right. The bone might be snapped, but it didn't break her carapace, and he can't even really tell if it's back in place or not. It doesn't seem to be bulging in place, so that's probably a good sign.

"If this heals badly, you know it's on my head," Not that she'll blame Crowbar, but he'll blame himself. He's not a medic, he only knows the very basics. Usually, all of their injuries would be serious enough to Stitch to look at, but they're nothing compared to what everyone has, so he's got to do his best, "Maybe I can get you some pain pills or something?"

"All I really need is a sling to hold it for the night. I'm used to needing to heal from serious injuries very, very quickly," Snowman tells him, and it's another reminder that she used to be a warlord of sorts.

"Alright but you still better have Stitch look at it tomorrow," He settles on, digging through the back-up chest until he finds a sling. As he gets Snowman's arm in it, he glances over at Doze, "Do you have anything besides those cuts and bruises?"

"No. This is it," Doze has been cut up, but they're all fairly shallow. Mostly they need to be bandaged. He feels a lot more confident doing that than dealing with broken arms and concussions. Still, he gets the sling tied properly at her neck and makes sure it's adjusted properly.

Snowman looks it over and nods, "Thank you. I'm going to lie down and sleep this off."

Die groans softly, "I just want to sleep too. Crowbar-"

"Head-injury means you don't get to sleep. Just sit in the chair and wait a minute," Crowbar reminds him before turning back to Snowman, "You sure you don't want something for the pain?"

"I'm sure. Anyway, I can never tell what medications will and won't be companionable with my biology until after I have a reaction. The last thing Stitch needs is another emergency," She smiles at Crowbar and nods to the others before leaving, "Good night."

"Night Snowman," Doze is a bit slow to respond, not getting his words out until after Snowman leaves. But he's used to that by now, so he slowly heads over to Crowbar at his usual snail's pace.

At least he's easy to take care of. Crowbar gets out the bandages and gauze and starts wrapping him up like a patchy mummy. The only advantage is that he doesn't fidget while Crowbar dresses his wounds, so everything goes a lot quicker than it usually world. It only take a few minutes to get him settled, using butterfly clips to keep things in place, "Alright, there you go. Get some sleep."

"But... I promised Itchy I'd go see him," Doze say, and Crowbar can tell that he's still worked up because his words aren't slow as molasses when it comes to Itchy.

"Itchy's in no shape to be bugged right now. Go get some sleep and let Itchy do the same," He knows it's not what Doze wants to hear, but if he turns up in the boutique to try talk to Itchy, he's going to get a far nastier earful from Stitch, "I'm serious Doze. Just go speed time up and it'll be morning before you know it."

"Okay..." Doze reluctantly heads out of Crowbar's room, shuffling down the hall. With him out of the way, and Snowman's arm in a splint, Crowbar turns back to Die and his head-injury. He's looking less punchy than before, but Crowbar's still got to check and make sure not to send him to bed, just in case.

"Still feeling sick?" Crowbar asks, getting a good look at Die's eyes. They're not as dilated as before, and he looks less lightheaded. That's a good sign at least.

"No. I feel better," Die says and stands up. Except the moment he gets up, his legs just give out, and Crowbar quickly rushes over, catching Die before he can smack his head a second time. One blow from Slick's horse hitcher is enough to usually crack a skull open. Die should count himself lucky he emerged intact, "Um. Maybe not."

"Looks like you're spending the night with me," Crowbar helps Die over to the bed, getting him settled on it. This way, if he topples over, at least he'll probably land on the mattress instead of the floor. He pulls his hand away from Die's side and notices that it doesn't come back clean. A quick glance reveals a little blood leaking through his pants, "Shit, look at that. Alright, let's see how bad it is."

"W-what? No!" Die instantly scoots away from Crowbar, "It's fine! It doesn't even hurt!"

Crowbar regards Die with the most unimpressed look he can muster, "Die, I'm not letting you bleed all over my bedspread. Let's get you patched up."

"I. Crowbar. I just. I don't," Die fumbles with his words, clearly nervous, "Could you- could you leave and just. I can handle this one myself? Please?"

"I'm not going to stare at your junk," Crowbar assures him and stands up. He grabs a towel from in his closet and chucks it at Die, "Here, something for your dignity. All I want to see is your hip so I can figure out if Stitch needs to sew it up, or if I can patch it on my own."

"Crowbar, really, it's not that big of a deal. I'm barely bleeding, I-if you could just-" He starts into it again and it's clear that Crowbar's going to have to get serious.

"I'm turning around and giving you thirty seconds. If your pants off when I turn around, I'm going to take them off of you. And we both know I can do that," Crowbar reminds Die, and just as Die starts to whine again, he turns around, counting down, "Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight-"

That's enough to get him going. Crowbar listens as Die's pants hit the ground and Die does... who know what. But by the time Crowbar hits one and he turns around, Die's got himself wrapped up.

"Thank you," Crowbar heads over and gets a look at the hip. It's not bad, just a deep scratch. He puts a little disinfectant on it, just in case, and a bandage. It's only as he's getting that stuck in place does he notice something odd going on with Die. Die's nervous, but Crowbar had just dismissed that out of hand as nothing but Die being himself. It's the back of his towel that's got Crowbar's attention. Even though Die's got his shirt and jacket hanging over the towel, he notices how it's just a little lumpy, and how it's twitching ever so slightly, "Huh," He says so himself, recognizing it in a heartbeat.

"Are you done?" Die asks, turning his back away from Crowbar's eyes, "I-I think you're done."

"Yeah, I'm done," He says, and scoops up Die's pants off the floor. His curiosity gets the better of him and he glances in the back. There, neatly sewn in the back of the pants, is a strap and a button. Crowbar turns it to face Die, unable to keep the smile off of his face, "So, did you do this yourself or does Stitch know about the tail too?"

"Oh my god-" Die blurts out and covers his face. Despite his curiosity, Crowbar doesn't lean around Die to get a better look at it, "This is why I didn't want to take off my pants!"

"Hey, calm down, I'm not about to go blabbing," Crowbar assures him. He manages to keep a straight face, even if it is hilarious, "The last thing I want to do is make myself even more work. I know how those assholes work."

It doesn't seem to assure Die all that much, not judging from the way he keeps holding his face in his hands, but he doesn't completely flip out, so that's probably a good sign. Crowbar's never really gotten the stigma attached to still having a tail. After all, they all start out as tadpoles until their legs sprout. It's just that most of them lose it before they're five or so. But there's still the one or two percent of the population that keeps them, even as adults.

Crowbar's never actually run into anyone with a tail before, at least not back home. And he certainly didn't expect to see anyone with one here, not when there's only the fourteen of them, and it's hard not to be intensely curious about it. But he tries not to be an asshole about it and play twenty questions. Instead, Crowbar pats Die on the back as friendly as he can and stands up. He takes his own jacket off and hangs it up in the closet, and undoes the buttons on his cuffs, just waiting for Die to calm down.

"Hey, Die, give me your jacket," He finally breaks the silence, holding his hand out. Die pauses, and awkwardly gets it off, handing it to Crowbar. He hangs it up in the closet with his own, making conversation to draw Die out, "I'm not sure what you want to do to pass the time. I can grab a deck of cards and we could play something. I'd usually suggest drinking, but that's just a bad idea with your head injury-"

"Just ask it," Die mumbles and when Crowbar looks at him for clarification, "I know what you want to ask. It's. It's what everybody wants to ask... so just. Ask it."

"... alright," Crowbar heads over, taking a seat beside Die, "Can I see?"

Die's always a sloucher, but his shoulders are even more slouched than usual as he pushes his towel down. The tail pops over the top and Crowbar can't stop smiling at it. It's adorable. The little thing flips back and forth, anxiously shaking from side to side.

"Does it move on it's own, or is that you?" Crowbar asks, and Die flushes, "Hey, if I'm being too personal, you're allowed to tell me to fuck off. You know I will."

"It's," Die stares at the floor, "It moves on it's own. I don't have any control over it..."

"Can I?" Crowbar asks, and he forces himself to wait for the nod before he reaches out and touches the tail. It's soft, and squirms out of Crowbar's fingers easily. He leans back, keeping the grin off his face, "Neat. So, cards?"

Die stares at Crowbar, and Crowbar just lets it go, digging around in his bedroom dresser and finding a deck. He starts shuffling them before Die speaks up, "That's... it?"

"That's it. You're not comfortable and I'm not going to force it," Crowbar deals them each a hand, setting the remaining deck between them, "Gin rummy?"

"Um. Yeah, that's fine..." Die picks up his cards, glancing at them and back up at Crowbar, as if expecting this to be a joke. But it's not. Crowbar finds this whole thing fascinating, and hilarious, but he's not a dick.

He organizes what he's got and takes a new card, discarding it when it's useless to his hand. Die does the same and they play in silence, filling and emptying their hands. Crowbar tries to focus, but it's hard when he can hear Die's tail going, rubbing against the fabric of his towel. His curiosity gets the better of him, and he brings up again, as casually as he can, "Does it go faster when you're happy?"

"It. Um. Well... sort-of... " Die nervously picks another card off of the deck, barely looking at his hand, "It's just. When I get emotional, it gets... really active."

"Yeah? I can see that being inconvenient," Crowbar discards a card, trying not to lean to the side to see if he can see the tail in action, "You tell people about it before you sleep together?"

"I... sometimes..." Die flushes a little. Crowbar leans over to reassure him and then remembers that, oh right, Die's only wearing a towel and his shirt. He hesitates, not sure if he wants to cross this line yet. Die doesn't really notice, still talking, "Depends on... who it is. But... I usually don't... it's just. Some people..."

Crowbar nods, "I got you," and lets it drop, knowing that he should probably let it pass.

They return to silence. Crowbar loosens his bow tie and tries to focus on the game, but his heart isn't in it. Die yawns, proving that he's not into it either, which is no good since the point is to keep him awake, not make him drift off. He catches Crowbar looking at him and sheepishly smiles back, "Sorry. I just. It's late."

"And you've got to stay up," Crowbar reminds him, picking up the cards and shuffling them before sticking them back into their container, "This isn't working. Anything else you want to do to pass the time?"

"Um," Die flushes, and it takes Crowbar a moment to realize what he's said, "I uh-"

"We... could do that," Crowbar's careful when he speaks, not wanting to scare Die off. It's not like Crowbar hasn't given this some thought before. Though there's a great deal of difference between an occasional jerk-off fantasy and actually sleeping with someone. Especially someone with a (minor) head-injury. And a tail, "But I've got books if you're looking for something more intellectually stimulating."

"Well..." Die wrings his hands, glancing up at Crowbar and back down, before hesitantly suggesting, "It... would just be a way of staying awake? It... wouldn't really mean anything-"

"It might to me," Crowbar interrupts Die before he can talk himself into thinking this will mean nothing, "I'm not really big on casual sex these days. If you're not comfortable with it meaning more-"

"Oh thank god, I'm okay with that, I'm really okay with that," Die's shoulders deflate with relief, "I just. I really want to, I do, and. And if it means something that's even better because I. I do like you. And-"

Crowbar can see that Die's going to keep talking in circles. The only thing to be done is to crawl over and kiss him until he shuts up, which Die happily does. From there, it's easy to topple them over, and to Die down on the bed. He doesn't give Die a chance to start doubting himself or this. Crowbar kisses him with some real meaning, getting his hips pressed flush with Die's, and Die responds almost instantly. His hands clutch at Crowbar's shirt and he kisses back greedily, like he hasn't had any sort of physical contact in ages. And maybe he hasn't. He is sort of a loner.

"W-woah," Die breaks off for a moment, sucking in air. He looks woozy and as Crowbar tries to figure out if he's okay, Die just flaps his hands in the air awkwardly, "I'm. Just a little dizzy-"

"Shit, right, the head-injury. Sorry," Crowbar changes tactics, moving his mouth down Die's face, kissing his cheeks and chin, and then sliding further down to his neck. It's so easy to just close his mouth over the wonderful soft flesh and start sucking, and the reaction out of Die is instantaneous, a low, shocked moan.

"Shhh," Crowbar reminds him, starting to undo Die's shirt, "Keep it down."

"I'll try," Die says, but it's pretty clear that the whole house is probably going to hear them fucking. Crowbar shrugs it off, willing to deal with it in the morning. He gets Die's shirt open, and yanks the towel off of his waist. All it takes it his hand wrapping around Die's dick and two quick strokes, and Die's hard. But the tail trapped between Die's ass and the bed is what gets his attention.

"Does it hurt?" Crowbar keeps stroking Die, even as his other hand slides down to touch the wiggling tail.

"I-it's. Uncomfortable," Die reluctantly admits, "I usually sleep on my stomach," Crowbar gives a lazy grin, and Die's face goes red, "O-oh, well..."

"Flip over," Crowbar tells him, taking off his own shirt and starting on his pants. As he gets his pants down, he takes a moment to grab his little jar of hand lotion out of the desk. His pants hit the floor, just as Die's shirt does too, and Crowbar looks over and sees a wonderful sight.

There's something just grand about Die face-down on the bed, especially when his ass is jutting up into the air. And it's a pretty good ass for such an otherwise lanky guy. Crowbar grins and reaches out to pinch the tail between his fingers, just to hear Die make the most adorable embarrassed squawk, "Crowbar!"

"Look at it go," Crowbar grins as it keeps trying to wiggle despite the grip, "No wonder you've got to button it down."

"Don't remind me," Die presses his face into the bed, clearly embarrassed, "It's always like this. Everyone says they're okay with the tail, but then we're about to have sex and it won't stop moving and-"

"And you need to give me a chance before you decide if I'm about to turn tail and run – no pun intended," Crowbar interrupts Die's pity-parade, knowing he needs to curb it now rather than later. He uncaps the jar of lotion and gets some on his fingers, and a little inbetween Die's cheeks. The tail twists into a tight little knot as Crowbar slips a finger inside of Die and starts to loosen him up, "Alright?"

Die pushes back against Crowbar's finger, "A-Alright," He agrees, and whimpers when Crowbar slides another in, "I just. Oh god, Crowbar."

"Relax, I've got you," Crowbar encourages him, starting to thrust his fingers into Die. Die's noisy, and that's just fine with Crowbar, liking the gaspy sounds that tumble out of Die's mouth as Crowbar's fingers push in and scissor, and do all they can to loosen him up. His other hand rests on Die's hip, his fingers brushing against the base of the tail, "So how sensitive is it?"

"What?" Die asks, confused until Crowbar wraps his hand around the tail and squeezes, "Oh! Um. Well. It's a little... ticklish. Wait!"

Of course, just as Die realizes his mistake, Crowbar grins again and starts tickling it, getting some half panicky laughter out of Die. The tail flips out, uncurling and flicking back and forth, and Die actually tries to slide away. Crowbar has to pull his fingers out of Die's ass just to get a hold of him, "A little ticklish huh?"

"Crowbar, please!" Die's pleas are hard to take serious when he's squirming around on the bed. But Crowbar does stop after a moment, letting Die catch his breath. While he does, Crowbar slicks his cock up and gets it ready as well. The tail finally goes back to normal, though Die starts to get a bit stressed as Crowbar presses the head of his cock against his entrance, "Oh god."

"We're almost there, just hold on," Crowbar rubs one cheek, giving it a squeeze to comfort Die, and then he slowly pushes in. Die's tight, but the preparations helped with that, and it's not uncomfortable for either of them. He has to take a moment to adjust to the heat thought. Die whines as Crowbar slides his cock all the way in, and he starts to squirm, only making it feel even better, "Fuck."

He's still adjusting when he notices that Die's tail has changed tactics again. It's laid out flat down the curve of Die's ass, just barely touching the base of Crowbar's shaft. He takes a moment to try figure out what's going on, and nearly laughs when he realizes. Die tries to look behind him, "W-what? What's wrong?"

"Your tail's- hah, your tail's trying to cover your ass," Crowbar reaches up and brushes his fingers along the curve of the tail, biting his lower lip when Die spasms a bit. A few more strokes and it starts relaxing, until it finally curves up again, "There we go... now. Let's just. Try this."

"Oh god, god, Crowbar-" Die squeaks as Crowbar pulls out and thrusts back in, trying to find a good rhythm. Crowbar's hands tighten on Die's hips as he fucks him steadily, eyes stuck on Die. His arms are splayed out in front of him, and his face is turned to the right, flushed and only getting redder with every thrust. He looks so fucking good on his knees, and yet Crowbar's eyes keep sliding to the tail, curling from side to side.

"Only an idiot would turn this down," Crowbar tells him sincerely, watching with fascination as Die's other cheeks start to get equally red from the force of his thrusts. Die whimpers, shoving back against Crowbar, disrupting the rhythm. He does the only thing he can think of and grabs Die's tail with one hand, gripping it tightly.

The results are instantaneous. Die moans and his hips jerk forward, "A-ah!"

"That feel good?" Crowbar demands, his thrust speeding up. His other hand keeps a grip on the hip, but he makes sure to squeeze the tail again, just to listen to Die moan again.

"O-oh my god, Crowbar, t-that's- it's-" He can barely put any words together, and every thrust and squeeze seems to render him even more incoherent. Crowbar commits this all to memory; how fucking tight Die is, the way he looks all flushed and debauched, and the tail clenched in his fist, twitching like mad in it's confinement. Die looks like he's going to come from just being fucked, "That's s-so good. Don't stop!"

"I won't," He's not sure if he could, even if he wanted to. His hips are quickening, thrusting into Die as deep and as fast as he can manage. Crowbar finally has to let go of the tail, sliding his hand underneath Die's body and wrapping it around his cock. As he strokes Die, the tail flaps back and forth like mad, clearly enjoying this. Die buries his face in the bed and muffles the gasps and moans that keep clawing their way out of his mouth.

"Aaaah, aaah oh god-" Die's noises may be quieted by the bedspread, but Crowbar can still make out most of them. He strokes Die in time with his thrusts and is rewarded when Die clenches tight around him and comes with a wail. Crowbar almost follows, the intense clenching almost more than he can take. Die's sounds only die down as Crowbar finishes stroking him out, and he all but collapses, only staying on his knees because Crowbar gets a hand on them to keep them up, "Crowbar..."

"Fuck, you should see how you look," Crowbar tells him fervently, wishing he had a camera or some way of preserving this. Die looks amazing when he's been well-fucked, and the fact that Crowbar's still got his cock buried in him just makes it even better. He keeps thrusting into Die, not bothering to keep up a rhythm. Crowbar's only real concern right now is getting off. The tail keeps wagging, but slowly now, clearly worn out from all the fucking. Crowbar can't resist and he gives it another squeeze. Die gasps and jerks his hips up again, and that's all Crowbar can stand.

"Fuck, Die!" He slaps his cock into Die and comes, holding on tight enough to leave bruises. Die moans like crazy on the bed and when Crowbar finally pulls out, he just collapses. Crowbar has enough sense to land beside Die and not on top of him and his tail.

He catches his breath and glances over, realizing that Die's falling asleep. He reaches over and smack's Die on the arm, hard, jolting him awake, "Ow!"

"Sorry, but you can't go drifting off," Crowbar reminds him, "Head injury and all that."

"Oh... right," Die frowns a little, and then crawls a little closer to Crowbar. He can see Die trying to work up the courage to snuggle, and Crowbar cuts to the chase, throwing an arm around Die's shoulders and letting him curl in close. Die does so, "Um... what should we do then?"

"How about you tell me something. Tell me anything. You've got a captive audience, might as well run wild," Crowbar suggests. It seems like the easiest way to keep Die awake while they get their second wind. Plus, it'll keep Crowbar awake too.

"Anything?" Die asks, turning his eyes up on Crowbar.

"Yeah, pour your little heart out," Crowbar gives him a bit of a squeeze, "I'm all ears."

"Well... " Die thinks about it, settling his head against Crowbar's chest, "Itchy's been cheating at cards again. And it doesn't even matter what timeline I'm in, he always cheats, and it's not fair. I could cheat, but I don't-"

Crowbar tunes out Die's whining, but finds himself smiling anyway when he realizes that the strange sound is Die's tail thumping against the bed. He focuses on that instead, letting Die's voice turn into a comforting drone.


End file.
